Volunteers Embark On Earth Day Cleanups by Roger Clark - NY1.com

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Volunteers all over the city spent Friday cleaning up recreational areas to mark Earth Day.

In Queens, the Hindu community took part in a cleanup of Jamaica Bay where offerings from religious ceremonies are creating environmental concerns.

The space, part of the National Park Service's gateway recreation area, is near the North Channel Bridge in Broad Channel.

"We come here and we make our offerings to the mother, because we believe the water for us is mother. She is a deity, what we worship. But at the same time we need to keep our mother clean, too. So after making our offerings into the water we should clean up after that," said Hindu Priest Chunelall Narine.

"We do promote a healthy environment, and although it's hard for some to understand the different situation that we're in, we do respect the community and we hope to clean up for Earth Day and to promote a good environment," said Clean-Up Volunteer Kamelia Kilawan.

For the past five years, park rangers have been working with the Hindu community to educate worshipers about the dangers posed to the environment and wildlife when leaving behind ritual items, like pieces of fruit and coconut shells.

"They can disrupt food chains and delay migration, they certainly can affect the water quality of Jamaica Bay," said Kathy Krause, Gateway National Recreation Area.

"It is our responsibility and duty to protect, to do whatever we can to protect the earth and keep the earth as clean as possible," said Hindu Community Leader Bhoj Dindiyal.

Other events across the city are focusing on green businesses and green cars.

Friday marks the 41st annual Earth Day celebration.

JFK Expansion Options Debated by David J. Harvey - The Forum Newsgroup

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John F. Kennedy Airport is one of the nation’s busiest airports and travellers face frequent delays. As air travel around New York increases, it could get worse. A new report on air traffic capacity contains, among several options to alleviate overcrowding, the possibility of expanding JFK Airport into Jamaica Bay. Local residents and conservation groups have reacted in an uproar.

At the beginning of the year, the Regional Plan Association (RPA)—an independent urban research and advocacy group—released a report on the growth of aviation traffic in New York City.

The report’s authors predict that passenger volume in New York will grow from 104 million passengers in 2010 to 150 million passengers in the 2030s. This growth, without improvements to the current aviation infrastructure, could cost billions of dollars in lost wages and business income. The report predicts that by 2030, as many as 125,000 jobs, $6 billion in wages and $16 billion in business sales would be lost yearly due to airport congestions and delays.

Among the possible solutions for accommodating increased commuter traffic is expanding JFK into Jamaica Bay. One proposal suggests an expansion of nearly 400 acres—almost two-thirds the size of LaGuardia Airport—while another would involve no reclamation of the bay.

Click on image to enlarge

After RPA released their report, a tide of criticism rose in the community that left some residents calling the RPA tools for the Port Authority.

On April 7, at the American Legion Hall on Crossbay Boulevard in Broad Channel, Dan Mundy of the Jamaica Bay Eco Watchers hosted a presentation to counter the RPA report.

Mundy opened the presentation by arguing that the central premise of the RPA report—that New York will have a significant rise in airline traffic—is based on a growth that would bring the city’s aviation to “a crippling halt.”

Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens) who flew in from Washington D.C. and was running late for a flight back to Washington, spoke briefly during Mundy’s presentation and promised he would do everything in his power to stop expansion into the bay.

“I have made it very clear that while there is ability for the Secretary [of the Interior] to make minor changes to the map, this is not minor, this is major, I’m against this, and I’m not going to let it happen,” Weiner said.

One of the biggest complaints Mundy had with the RPA report was that previous reports about air traffic growth were always overestimated.

“It’s a doomsday prediction,” he said. “We went back 55 years and looked at all these reports. What we found was that the predictions were always overstated.”

A 1969 RPA report predicted that by the year 2000 there would be at least 250 million air passengers per year in the New York area—there were actually 90 million. Mundy said that by following historical data, an increase to between 115 and 125 million air passengers by 2030 could be predicted, rather than the 150 million predicted in the RPA report.

RPA Director of Transportation Richard Barone, one of the report’s authors, defended the current report and joked that he “wasn’t even born when [the 1969] report came out.”

“[The 1969] predictions were very optimistic, it was a period of very aggressive growth in air travel,” he said, adding that the old RPA reports used a six percent growth rate.

The recent report was based on a conservative, two percent growth rate, he said.

Barone said the RPA had attended the meeting to get input and hopes to return to the area and present updates.

“Obviously in the report we state that expanding into Jamaica Bay is huge deal,” Barone said. “We’re not opposed to making changes.”

Despite Barone’s concessions, and insistence that the RPA has no other agenda than presenting their analysis to “start a conversation,” the immediate response after he finished speaking was vitriolic. “I should take that as a direct insult to my intelligence,” said John, a local resident.

Don Riepe, Director of the American Littoral Society’s Northeast Chapter, pointed out that the bay has been reclaimed for development since New York City was founded. At one time, the bay was twice its current size, spreading out as salt marshes across Brooklyn and Queens. Today, the bay’s wildlife, including migrating hawks, peregrine falcons, osprey, herons and more than 100 types of finfish, compete for less and less livable space, Riepe said.

He noted that JFK already has problems with animals trying to coexist with planes. Last year, the city euthanized thousands of geese over fears the migrating birds would cause an incident like the forced Hudson River emergency landing. JFK now has a full time biologist on staff to deal with local wildlife.

“Just because you have an urban airport doesn’t mean you won’t have wildlife,” Riepe said.

Bradford H. Sewell, Senior Project Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained that proposed changes would alter the flight paths, adding to noise pollution over the bay—disturbing the natural “soundscape” of the bay. He added that new flights would pass, at an elevation of 1,000 to 1,500 feet, directly over the Jamaica Bay visitor center. If the frequency of traffic doubles at the airport, flights could pass overhead every 30 seconds.

“I hope that we can double our efforts … because the impacts of this sort of expansion into Jamaica Bay would be unacceptable,” said Sewell, who has had prior experience in airport expansion battles.

In the RPA report, there are four proposals for the expansion of JFK. Three include reclaiming some of the bay. The report’s authors noted—based on NY Port Authority reports—that the area of expansion is a dead zone, depleted of oxygen as a result of dredging. Mundy, Riepe and Sewell all refute that claim.

Vinnie Calabro, a Jamaica Bay fisherman and charter boat captain, said the area the NY Port Authority considers a dead zone is teeming with wildlife, and is the site of several recent catches.

“We’ll be on the boat some days looking at the people on the tarmac reading the New York Timesand we’ll catch another one of these big fish.” said Calabro. “They don’t realize what’s going on. They’re caught up in the headlines, but there are headlines right here in the bay. We have to speak out.”

One RPA proposal that does not include expansion of JFK into the bay, which Barone said was overlooked by Sewell, would require upgrading the airport’s air traffic control with NextGen capabilities. NextGen, being implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration over the next few years, includes Global Positioning Systems and operational and procedural changes.

The biggest hurdles JFK must overcome—be aided by NextGen—is reducing flight delays and optimizing capacity, said the report.

Despite the report’s findings, no one is planning an actual airport expansion so far.

Edward Knoesel, manager of the New York Port Authority’s Environmental Services Aviation Department, said that the RPA report was commissioned by the Port Authority, stressing that the organization has a responsibility to look into their facilities and plan for the future of commerce and travel in the tri-state area.

“The RPA is a long-standing, very respected organization,” he said. “They have produced a series of options for further study. … The Port Authority is not proposing to do any fill in Jamaica Bay.”

“We’re not proposing to do any expansion at any airport,” Knoesel added. “What were doing is taking a look at what the RPA proposed and what [the community says] and see what is feasible.”

News and Notes from NYC Council Member Eric Ulrich - 32nd Council District

Ulrich Honors Neighborhood’s Newest Marine

Council Member Eric A. Ulrich (R-Queens) today presented a City Council Citation to Ozone Park resident Victor Schwoebel in honor of his recent graduation from United States Marine Corps basic training.

Ulrich said, “We should never pass up an opportunity to show our troops and veterans how much their sacrifice means to all of us. Anything that we can do to thank them, lift their spirits, and honor their service is our responsibility as Americans. On behalf of a grateful city, I want to congratulate Private Schwoebel and thank him for his service to our country. He has made us all very proud.”

Private Schwoebel, a 2008 graduate of Beach Channel High School, was joined at the ceremony by his mother, Joanne Schwoebel, and his aunt, Barbara Buonocore, both of Ozone Park. He leaves next week for combat training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

South Queens Boys & Girls Club Historic Groundbreaking Ceremony

The South Queens Boys & Girls Club held a Groundbreaking Ceremony and Reception at their Clubhouse on 110-04 Atlantic Ave in Richmond Hill, NY on Thursday April 7^th at 3:00 p.m.

The South Queens Boys & Girls Club broke ground on a new Clubhouse building that will include a new regulation size gym, classroom space, new education and technology center, dance and music rooms. The club will also serve as a community center to offer services to new immigrants in the community.

The South Queens Boys & Girls Club has raised $8.64 million dollars in capital funding from State and City Elected Officials as well as the Port Authority of NY & NJ

There were over 100 people in attendance at this event including Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo and New York State Assembly members Rory Lancman and Michael Miller, New York City Council members Leroy Comrie, Elizabeth Crowley, Karen Koslowitz, Eric Ulrich and Ruben Wills. Board members, community members including school officials, community board members, as well as captains from the NYPD and FDNY were also in attendance.

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo, New York State Assembly Members Rory Lancman and Michael Miller, New York City Councilmembers Leroy Comrie, Karen Koslowitz, Eric Ulrich and Ruben Wills, and Ralph Tragale, Assistant Director of Government Affairs and SQBGC Board Vice President Join SQBGC Chairman Emeritus Joseph A. Ferrara, Chairman Phil Ballin, Board President George Russo, Executive Directors Leo Compton and Carol Simon, and Club kids as they break ground on the new Clubhouse on April 7^th

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall presents South Queens Boys & Girls Club Chairman Emeritus Joseph A. Ferrara a plaque to commemorate the historic ground breaking and his dedication to the children of the South Queens Boys & Girls Club for over 40 years.

Ulrich Urges Students to “Dream Big” at Career Day

Council Member Eric A. Ulrich (R-Queens) recently participated in Career Day at MS 137 America’s School of Heroes in Ozone Park. He spoke with students in two seventh grade classes and an eight grade gifted art class about the work he does every day for the neighborhood on the City Council, and stressed the importance of hard work and perseverance in achieving one’s goals. Council Member Ulrich urged the students to dream big and, much like a horserace, keep the blinders on and ignore distractions until they reach the finish line.

Ulrich said, “I was very impressed by the enthusiasm shown by all three classes I visited and by the students’ ideas for the future. Rest assured our city has a bright future because of these young adults.”

Clothesless Man Jumps From Rockaway Railroad Trestle Into Frigid Jamaica Bay by Daniel Maurer - Intelligencer NY Magazine

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The view from the trestle - Photo Daniel Maurer

The Rockaway Park shuttle, which was stalled for hours during the blizzard, faced another challenge this morning when a man jumped off the railroad trestle connecting Rockaway and Broad Channel and took a short plunge into the icy waters of Jamaica Bay. Passengers first became aware of the commotion when the Broad Channel–bound shuttle slammed on its brakes and blared its horn shortly after 11 a.m. The conductor was overheard radioing in a description of the African-American male jumper, who he later saw emerge in shallow water, without his clothes. The train continued to the Broad Channel station, where witnesses told Intel that they'd seen the man strip off his coat on the platform and walk the tracks onto the bridge. There, he stripped off his shirt and pants. 'I think he was trying to get hit by the train and when it stopped, he just jumped,' said one. Service was still running as of 11:20, when police were on the scene looking for the man.

Snow Strands Subway Passengers In 'A' Train For Nearly 11 Hours In Queens CBS New York

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Riders Stuck On Train With No Food, Water or Bathrooms

AP Photos/Bebeto Matthews

For many New Yorkers, getting stuck on a subway train for more than a couple of extra minutes can be a serious annoyance – and the thought of being stuck for hours is a nightmare.

But in the midst of this blizzard, it became a reality for some folks trying to get home from Kennedy Airport.

Stranded passenger Susan Jutt joined CBS 2 via cell phone from a crowded A train Monday morning just after 5:30 a.m. At that point, she and approximately 400 other riders had been stuck on the train for just over five hours.

“Most of the people are just waking up now, and there’s no water and no bathrooms so it’s a little difficult,” Jutt said.

The immobile train was sitting above ground at the Aqueduct Racetrack station, and according to Jutt, just about everyone on the train was coming from Kennedy Airport after their flights were canceled.

“There was no other way to get out of the airport, the air train closed down, so there were shuttle buses that took us to the subway,” Jutt said.

NYC Transit Spokesman Charles Seaton said snow drifts and ice on the third rail had stalled the trains at the Broad Channel and Aqueduct stops in Queens, north and south of Kennedy Airport.

Workers had been intermittently dispensing information to the passengers. At one point, the plan was to have another train come to pull the defunct A train out of the station.

“That never happened,” Jutt said. “I have seen workers, I know they’ve been trying.”

Most passengers remained in good spirits despite the frustrating situation.

“I think everybody’s been pretty good natured considering how difficult this has been,” said Jutt.

By noon the trains had been pulled into stations. Seaton says there are no trains stuck anywhere.

“It’s really still a mess out there on the subways and buses,” Seaton said. “Let us clean up the rest of the system, get the trains moving, if you do not have to use mass transit today, if you don’t have to go anywhere — don’t.”

American Littoral Society Annual Holiday Party - Sunday Dec 5th at the Broad Channel VFW Hall

American Littoral Society Annual Holiday Party

When: Sunday, December 5th ( 5pm-9pm)

Where: VFW Hall on Shad Creek Road in Broad Channel...( first right after the first light - between 6th & 8th Roads)

Donation: $45 ( still !) includes appetizers, buffet dinner, desserts, beer & wine, entertainment.

Activities include "Ugly Auction", Silent Auction, door prizes, Flamenco & exotic dancers.

There is also a 3pm walk at the nearby JBWR before the party.

To reserve space send check ( American Littoral Society) to Don Riepe, 28 West 9th Road, Broad Channel, NY 11693 .

Call (718) 318-9344 for more info or e-mail:donriepe@gmail.com.

Dress: informal

New Cross Bay Bridge Toll Plan Will Cost You by Bryan Yurcan - Queens Chronicle

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The bulk of the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge rebate program that has been in place for residents of the Rockaway Peninsula and Broad Channel will soon be no more.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced this week that the program will be modified come July.

Under the old rebate program, participating residents of ZIP codes 11691, 11692, 11693, 11694, 11695 and 11697 who have an E-Z Pass are reimbursed $1.13 each time they cross the bridge using E-Z Pass. The toll charge is credited back to residents using MTA funds that come from the state mortgage recording tax.

However, the MTA said starting July 23 the Rockaway toll rebate program will be modified and residents within those six valid ZIP codes in the Rockaways and Broad Channel districts will pay a $1.13 toll for each of the first two trips across the Cross Bay Bridge. All subsequent trips taken on or during the same day on the same E-Z Pass tag will continue to be rebated to the account under the Cross Bay Resident Rebate program

The fare will be $2.75 for cash customers and $1.71 for non-resident E-ZPass customers. In addition, Rockaway residents may also purchase tokens, which cost $1.54 per trip. .

The MTA said the service change was approved to help close an $800 million budget deficit.

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), blasted the agency’s decision.

“I am outraged by the MTA’s most recent attempt to balance their books on the backs of Broad Channel and Rockaway residents” said Ulrich. “In my opinion, this is just another unfair tax levied upon hard working New Yorkers, many of whom are already struggling to simply make ends meet. The MTA must get serious about its own inefficiencies and poor accounting practices before they reach into the pockets of people just trying to travel around their own community.”

The rebate plan is only valid at the Cross Bay Bridge for passenger vehicles. It does not apply to commercial trucks, motorcycles, taxis, buses or limousines.

In 2009, 3.6 million trips were taken by residents participating in the Cross Bay Resident Rebate program, according to the MTA.

Rockaway, Broad Channel Residents Gripe Over MTA's Plan to Put Toll on Cross Bay Bridge by Daniel Edward Rosen - NY Daily News

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Rockaway and Broad Channel residents accustomed to free passage on the Cross Bay Bridge are chafing at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plans to start charging them for round trips on the span, beginning next month.

"We're getting hit from all sides, and we can use a little help and a little fairness" from the MTA, said Daniel Mundy, 47, a firefighter and Broad Channel resident who uses the bridge every day. "It's going to be a hardship for a lot of people."

The MTA said that beginning next month, locals with E-ZPass will pay a round-trip fare totaling $2.26. Each successive trip will be free of charge. Nonresidents with E-ZPass will pay $1.71 per trip. No official start date has been set, said Kevin Ortiz, an MTA spokesman.

The Cross Bay Bridge rebate program, which was put into effect in 1989, originally charged Rockaway and Broad Channel residents with E-ZPass $1.03 per trip. The fee would be automatically remitted to their accounts.

But the MTA has had the rebate program in its crosshairs since it announced last December that it would have to close an $800 million budget deficit. Scrapping the rebate program would save the MTA $3.5 million per year, said Ortiz.

The move will also create the only intraborough toll in the city, said City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park).

"How can we justify charging people to travel to and from their own community?" Ulrich asked. "This is not going to solve the MTA's problem."

The loss of the rebate will force Broad Channel residents to pay for "something most people take for granted," like taking their kids to school or visiting the hospital, said Jonathan Gaska, district manager of Community Board 14.

It will also affect the Rockaways beach tourism at an inopportune time during its busy summer season, said Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Rockaway Beach).

"If you live in the Bronx, you go to the beach for free. But if you live in Queens, you have to pay to go to the beach. That's unfair," said Pheffer.

Mundy agreed about the toll's unfairness.

"Now, for me to attend the community board meetings, to meet with my local police officers, I have to pay the toll," said Mundy.

This is the latest transportation blow for the Rockaways. The money-losing Rockaway Ferry service is set to stop running July 1, barring a last-minute reprieve from the City Council.

Broad Channel Journal - Broad Channel Loses Free Trips on Cross Bay Bridge by Fernanda Sanchez - NYTimes.com

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Ending free trips on the Cross Bay Bridge for Broad Channel residents will have an impact. Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

ZIP code 11693 in southeastern Queens spans two communities divided by water and a half-mile-long toll bridge. One of them is Broad Channel, a narrow island in Jamaica Bay with cottages on stilts and a quaint business district that has a nail salon, a bar, a pizzeria, a deli and little else.

Dan Mundy Jr., the president of the Broad Channel Civic Association, says that “around here, people live on a budget, so every dollar counts.” Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

If a car is vandalized in Broad Channel, the owner must cross the toll bridge linking the island to the Rockaway peninsula in order to file a police report. The closest pharmacy, hospital, gas station, grocery store and bank are also on the other side of the bridge, and so is the rectory for the local parish, which was merged in 2008 with a parish in the Rockaways.

Broad Channel’s only Roman Catholic church has no resident priest and a limited Mass schedule. Broad Channel has a post office, located inside a variety store, but it does not offer post office boxes or sell money orders. It had a laundromat, but it burned down on Wednesday.

For its roughly 3,000 residents, daily trips to the peninsula over the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge are something of a necessity. The toll is $2.75 for drivers without an E-ZPass. But for the past 12 years, residents of Broad Channel and the Rockaways have been allowed to cross it without charge.

But their free ride is about to end.

Sometime in July — the exact date has not yet been set — the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will end a program that instantly credits their E-ZPass accounts with the toll imposed every time they cross the bridge. It is part of an effort to close the transit agency’s $800 million budget gap, which also includes eliminating subway lines, reducing subway service and scrapping some bus routes.

Under the new rules, residents of Broad Channel and the Rockaways who have an E-ZPass will no longer be credited the $1.13 toll they pay each time they cross the Cross Bay Bridge, although they will not be charged if they make more than two crossings a day. The transit agency estimates that ending the program will bring in an additional $3.5 million a year. It is part of a package of cuts and other money-saving measures totaling about $93 million.

To many people in Broad Channel, a largely working-class enclave, it means paying to get to the doctor’s office, go to work, pick up a child at school or attend a meeting of the local community board. It is not uncommon for families to have lived there for generations; many of the residents are civil servants.

“It makes no sense to have to take out-of-pocket money to do a job I’m not paid for,” said Dan Mundy, 72, who volunteers on five committees at Community Board 14, which meets in Far Rockaway. “Am I upset? Yes, I’m upset. I’m also angry.”

He is not the only one. An online petition against eliminating the toll refund gathered 1,000 signatures in four days and drew some nasty comments, including one comparing the transportation authority’s board members to terrorists. At a public hearing in Queens last month, protesters chanted “no more tolls” as the board’s chairman, Jay H. Walder, who grew up in the Rockaways, took his seat.

Phone calls have been pouring into the office of Assemblywoman Audrey I. Pheffer in Rockaway Beach. And among business owners in Broad Channel, there is a palpable sense of dread.

People who live in the Rockaways are “not going to want to pay a toll to buy a dozen bagels,” said Al Pisani, one of the owners of a bagel shop that is about to open just off the toll plaza on Cross Bay Boulevard, Broad Channel’s main roadway.

The Cross Bay bridge opened in 1939, and drivers have paid to traverse it ever since. (To this day, old-timers reminisce about how it cost just 10 cents into the 1970s.)

A spokeswoman for the transportation agency, Joyce Mulvaney, said the agency was obligated by the state to charge tolls at the bridges and tunnels it operates and then to use the money to maintain the crossings and subsidize mass transit services.

Only the Legislature can abolish the toll for everyone, and Ms. Pheffer, a Democrat whose district includes Broad Channel and the Rockaways, has introduced many bills hoping to do just that over the years, with no success.

Broad Channel has a wildlife refuge and 20-some residential blocks of mostly single-family home. It is so narrow that the water is visible on both sides from Cross Bay Boulevard. The A train stops there, but the ride to the financial district often takes 90 minutes. Someone who uses the bridge to get to work will now have to pay nearly $600 a year.

“A hundred bucks may not seem like much for some people, but around here, people live on a budget, so every dollar counts,” said Mr. Mundy’s son, Dan Mundy Jr., 46, a firefighter who lives in the house that belonged to his grandfather and is the president of the Broad Channel Civic Association.

Anthony Causi, 28, who moved to Broad Channel four years ago and owns an insurance agency there, put it this way: “We’re already paying more for everything, so I think of this as nothing but an unfair tax.”

There is another crossing on the northern end of Broad Channel, the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge, which connects the island to the Howard Beach section of Queens. It is operated by the city’s Department of Transportation, is at least a mile longer than the Cross Bay bridge and is free.

Locals' Great Barrier Beef: Pleas for Broad Channel Traffic Guardrail by Brendan Brosh - NY Daily News

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A coalition of Broad Channel residents is calling for a new pedestrian barrier to be installed along a dangerous stretch of Cross Bay Blvd. where fatal car accidents are common.

Local attorney Christina Andrea Hall said she and others have gathered more than 700 signatures in favor of erecting a guard rail to protect people on a pedestrian path near the local bird sanctuary.

Area residents say the stretch is the longest in Queens without a stoplight.

"There's nothing to protect pedestrians for 2 miles," said Hall, who lives near the strip. "We have people walking with baby carriages and little children learning to ride their bikes."

Joanne Kodetsky and her dog were walking along the path in April when they were tragically mowed down by a driver who lost control of her car.

Plans were in place to install a heavily vegetated buffer zone between the boulevard and pedestrians in the 1990s, but it never came to fruition.

The chief of the local volunteer fire department said that telephone poles and trees are knocked down regularly in auto accidents on the boulevard between Broad Channel and Howard Beach.

"There should have been a guard rail there 45 years ago," said Dan McIntyre, chief of the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department. "There are a minimum of 70 accidents a year on that stretch."

Members of the local community board asked the city Transportation Department to intervene, but were told the installation would be too expensive.

"We tried to make a case, but they said wouldn't put up a guard rail," said Jonathan Gaska, district manager of Community Board 14. "Unless the mayor gets involved and forces them to see the wisdom in protecting lives, DOT is the final arbiter on sidewalks and streets."

A DOT spokeswoman said the agency is examining the location for ways to enhance safety there.

Local environmentalists said a metal barrier would best serve the community and local wildlife.

"A simple guard rail would allow smaller mammals to cross the street, which is in the middle of a nature preserve," said Don Riepe, head of the American Littoral Society.

Riepe said that weather conditions can also make the road considerably less safe for motorists and pedestrians.

"It can be especially dangerous after rainfalls, and ponding on the northbound right lane is common," he said.

Gulluscio Offers Testimony At Gateway National Recreation Area

Frank Gulluscio Comments on Gateway’s New Management Plan

Howard Beach resident Frank Gulluscio, the Democratic candidate for the 32^nd Council District, attended Gateway National Recreation Area’s meeting Sunday, September 27^th at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Gulluscio, submitted comments to Gateway officials regarding their new Management Plan for the park, discussions by the National Park Service are currently underway.

Gateway has begun the process to scope, develop, and prepare a General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, which, according to the National Park Service, will be its “vision for the future.” Gateway’s first General Management Plan was completed 30 years ago in 1979, a few years after the park’s creation.

Some of Gulluscio’s comments focused on the three areas in Howard Beach that are part of Gateway: Charles Park, Hamilton Beach Park, and the Spring Creek area. Gulluscio conveyed to Gateway officials that the expectations area residents had of an increase in recreational opportunities have not yet been met.

Gulluscio said, “Over the past 30 years, since Gateway’s creation, we have seen little improvement within our parks that house our neighborhood recreation areas. Ballfields and tennis courts are in disrepair, erosion continues, and playground areas are not to the standard found in city-owned facilities in neighboring areas. Getting needed repairs fixed takes an inordinate amount of time in the view of community residents. Expectations of enhanced recreational opportunities for local residents in these local area parklands have not been met in over three decades. Spring Creek has essentially been left wild thereby providing no real increase in recreational opportunities for our people.” Gulluscio also indicated to Gateway officials that were present that if elected the Gateway areas in Broad Channel and the Rockaway peninsula would also be locations where he would seek improvements.

Gulluscio also referred Hamilton Beach Park as an “orphan” area where residents strongly believe their calls for improvements have been ignored by Gateway for years. This became evident at the meeting when Gulluscio was examining maps and drawings on display by Gateway, and there were no maps or drawings for Hamilton Beach Park. “That failure to include Hamilton Beach, spoke volumes to me,” Gulluscio said.

Gulluscio also called on Gateway to incorporate enhanced security into its plan for the next few decades. “Inadequate provision for the public safety is a far more serious concern for our local residents today than it was 15, 20, or 25 years ago,” Gulluscio relayed to Gateway officials, “much of the Gateway acreage in the Howard Beach community is located in the Spring Creek area. All of Howard Beach, Broad Channel, and much of the Rockaway peninsula lies under the flight paths of JFK Airport. We consider Gateway to be part of our city’s critical infrastructure and we are far from satisfied that the level of protection in the essentially wild acreage along our shoreline is sufficient. The Management Plan for Gateway must address that critical need.”

The process to develop this new General Management Plan is just in its beginning stages. A draft version should be circulated by the summer of 2011. Gulluscio called upon Gateway to develop better linkages as the process moves forward with local area groups both on the peninsula and in the mainland. Gulluscio also requested that Gateway present their General Management Plan before all New York City Community Boards so as to insure there is adequate local area input. Gulluscio pointed out that “while we understand that Gateway is part of the National Park system and much of its planning is aimed at serving a broad area and preserving open space in its natural state, the track record of Gateway in providing for the recreational needs and desires of the communities in which it sits have been far from acceptable” and more local viewpoints must be better incorporated into Gateway’s planning so that “their vision for the future of Gateway reflects the vision of areas residents.”

Queens Angler Drowns Wading Too Far Out in Jamaica Bay by Edgar Sandoval and Oren Yaniv - NY Daily News

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Friends and family watch the divers bring the body of the deceased to the beach. Pace for News

A fisherman drowned and his friend was pulled to safety yesterday after they both stumbled into deep water in a treacherous stretch of Jamaica Bay, Queens, witnesses said.

Family members identified the drowned man as Mario Acatilta, 19, a Mexican immigrant.

His pal Jesus Gonzales was recovering in the hospital after a former lifeguard jumped in and plucked him from the water.

The two friends were fishing at North Channel Beach in Broad Channel when the water suddenly deepened and they lost their footing about 2:30 p.m.

"The problem is that there is a big drop," said Jaikarran Bridguepaug, 52, an electrician who was fishing alongside the men and helped bring Gonzales ashore.

"I wish I could have done more, but it happened so fast," he added.

"They were yelling 'Help me! Help me!'" added Bridguepaug, of Ozone Park.

Cesar Meneses, 39, a room service staffer at the Novotel Hotel in midtown who once worked as a lifeguard, jumped into the choppy water.

He managed to grab the barely floating Gonzales by the collar and pulled him back toward shore.

"I told him, 'I'm here to help you,'" Meneses recalled.

"I'm not going to die," the man mumbled as they neared safety.

A park ranger performed CPR on Gonzales until an ambulance arrived. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital, officials said.

The rescuer said he returned to look for Acatilta, but only found sneakers and a yellow hat floating near where he disappeared.

"The water took him," Meneses said sadly.

Rescuers recovered the teenager's lifeless body at 5:30 p.m. as sobbing relatives - including his brother, who was still clutching the wet hat - watched in anguish.

The heartbroken brother said only that Acatilta was a supermarket worker who moved here two years ago from the Mexican state of Tlaxcala.

The small sandy beach with city views is attached to a parking lot off Cross Bay Blvd.

About 200 people dotted the quarter-mile stretch yesterday, some enjoying the sparkling day and other fishing for bluefish and bass.

Plenty of regulars said the idyllic shore masked an ominous danger.

"These aren't waters for swimming - it's too rough," said John Baptist, 37, who frequents the beach. "You take one step, you're fine. You take the next, you're down there."

Other beachgoers suggested a sign be posted warning people about the shifting seabed.

"Anyone who comes here knows that you have to walk carefully," said Lulzim Buzhiqi, 38, who was also fishing in the area.

Meneses said he wanted to see Gonzales again, and said the loss of his pal was going to hit the survivor hard.

"I'm worried about him," Meneses said.

esandoval@nydailynews.com

Sunset in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Sanctuary...

It was such a beautiful day today here in New York City, the temperatures were in the 80's, low humidity (52%) and a lovely breeze (10 mph from the NW)...

Here are a few photos from Jamaica Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at sunset...

Click on images to enlarge...

Photos by Manny

Man Found Dead after Disappearing in Jamaica Bay by Terry Sheridan -

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Photo: Terry Sheridan

Police say a body has been pulled from Jamaica Bay after a search for a fisherman in the waters off the coast of southwestern Long Island.


Terry Sheridan reports

Police say the body of a male was pulled from the water late Sunday afternoon. He has not been identified.

The U.S. Coast Guard says two passers-by on Howard Beach saw the 19-year-old man and another fisherman struggling in the water near the North Channel Bridge about 2:30 p.m.

The Coast Guard says rescuers pulled one of the men out. He was taken to a nearby hospital.

But they say the other fisherman was possibly pulled into the sinkhole, an underwater depression.

The condition of the rescued fisherman was not immediately known. He has not been named.

Woman Fatally Hit in Queens While Walking Dog by Matthew Lysiak and Wil Cruz - NY Daily News

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A 55-year-old woman walking her dog in Queens was mowed down near a boulevard where area residents have long complained about speeding, cops and neighbors said Friday.

Joanne Kodetsky and her pet were on a path off Cross Bay Blvd. Thursday afternoon when a 2002 Nissan jumped the curb, cops and neighbors said. Paramedics rushed her to Peninsula Hospital where she died. The driver stayed at the scene and was not charged.

Christina Hall, 63, said drivers use the road in Broad Channel for speeding and racing.

"We don't have lights here," said Hall. "It's not a race track, but it's treated as one."

Residents, Pols Protest ;Unfair and Unjust; Cross Bay Bridge Toll by Lee Landor - Queens Chronicle

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Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, a handful of politicians and hundreds of Broad Channel and Rockaway residents are demanding the removal of the only intra-borough toll in the city.

Photo caption: Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr., C.B. 14 Chairwoman Dolores Orr and District Leader Frank Gulluscio. Photo: Lee Landor

The toll plaza that sits at the northern end of the Cross Bay Bridge has been the cause of much contention between the two communities and the city for decades.

Residents began protesting the toll in 1974 and finally won in 1998 when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city-owned bridge, agreed to implement a rebate program.

With the program, Broad Channel and Rockaway drivers with E-ZPasses are charged $1.03 (discounted from $2.50 for non-residents) each time they cross the bridge, and the money is returned to them in a rebate.

Now that the MTA is facing a serious fiscal crisis in its 2009 budget, it is contemplating abrogating the rebate program, which would save the agency $3.6 million a year.

Just the utterance of the MTA’s proposal sent Broad Channel and Rockaway drivers scrambling to the offices of their elected officials and local leaders, who organized a protest on Tuesday.

Joining Marshall in her call to remove the toll were Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr., several district leaders and a number of community board members.

According to Marshall, the toll will “hamper the ongoing economic development of the entire Rockaway Peninsula. It will make the current housing boom less attractive to prospective buyers.”

The toll will also discourage Rockaway residents from driving into the rest of the borough to shop, according to Pheffer. Why would they pay a toll to get to Queens Center Mall, for example, when they could drive into Five Towns in Nassau County for free?

Pheffer called on the MTA to “eliminate the toll. It’s wrong. It’s unfair and unjust.”

Addabbo expressed concern about what the MTA would do with the $3.6 million it would save by ending the rebate program. “How many of us are really certain that the MTA can handle money?” he asked.

It’s time the agency learned that it cannot fix its financial problems on the backs of its customers, Addabbo added. He suggested that before it does anything, the MTA should look in the mirror, recognize the place from which its fiscal troubles stem and revamp its entire financial department.

Community Board 14 District Manager Jonathan Gaska said there is no question that the Cross Bay Bridge toll should not even exist. But since it does, the least the MTA can do is continue the rebate program.

Broad Channel residents send their children to school in the Rockaways, Gaska noted. It’s where they go for grocery and other shopping, to eat out, to see movies, to visit the post office and even to get gas.

Should they need to visit their local precinct, which is located on the peninsula, or pick up their kids from school or send certified mail, Broad Channel residents, who share a ZIP code with a Rockaway neighborhood, would have to pay a toll. Likewise, Rockaway residents who want to get to any other part of the borough have to pay a toll.

“It’s just ridiculous,” Marshall said. “Does the MTA charge Manhattan residents a toll to travel into Midtown or SoHo?”

Lifelong Rockaway resident Glenn DiResto, a candidate in the 32nd Council District special election, summed up the problem with the toll: it’s divisive. “The toll isolates the whole community,” he said.

Rockaway resident Dan Tubridy echoed the sentiment, saying, “This toll is a wall. It’s a wall that ... separates the city of New York.” It is time, he said, to “tear that wall down.”

In addition to the protest, the community held a demonstration Wednesday, sending six busloads of residents to speak out at an MTA meeting in Manhattan.